Avocados

What with the California freeze, I decided it would be an opportune time to start my own, down here in Florida. So I started with two seeds, in water, until they were well rooted.

I let one just grow, and it's now in a pot and the new growth is about a foot high, and leaved.

The second I went with Google, and cut the stem down to four inches when it was 8 inches tall. It did send out three side branches and it is also now in a pot and struggling along.

Who knows what about these plants?

: )

Avocados usually do well wherever citrus flourishes. (also macadamias will prosper there, too, but are very slow growing.)

http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/avocado.html

Yuska

This message was edited Feb 3, 2007 6:58 AM

What makes me curious is whether I did right by pinching one, and letting the other just keep growing.

: )

Sorry, I can't answer that for certain. I would think that the pinched one would be shorter and bushier as a multi-trunk, but that's just a guess.

I have one in a pot inside that I started from a seed too. I pinched it after it grew to be 1 foot tall, hoping (expecting!) it to grow side shoots.
Nope; not this one, it wasn't bothered a bit by the pinch, and resumed only upward growth!
They do unusual things!
I gave mine some citrus food, much more diluted than directed on the box.
Maybe when the days get longer it will start to grow more, and side shoots will come. Don't give up on it - yet- !

Christie

I am pretty much an antique, already. When can I expect to see fruit?

I'll post a photo when the sun finally comes out.

Be well

: )

This is the first I started. I followed advice and cut the shoot halfway down when it was eight inches tall. It certainly is slow in growing upward. But there are three stems.

: )

This message was edited Dec 14, 2007 7:51 PM

This is the one I started two weeks later.

:)

But its leaves are beautiful (to me, at least.)

: )

I started these 5 last summer from seed when we put our house on the market in California. They were from my neighbor's 40ft tree and the fruit is so good that I can't eat store bought avocado anymore so I had to bring them with us when we moved. Just soaked the seeds in water overnight then stuck them in the pot and all 5 took. I have a 6th one in another pot and a 7th one still sitting in a pot of dirt that never sprouted and just have never thrown it away (yes, I moved it across country with me just in hopes it would eventually sprout). Anyway, these 5 are now almost 3 feet tall. I never pinched them back or cut any off, just let them grow. I have not fertilized them. I've just let them be as they seem happy enough and water them when they look about to wilt. I know I need to transplant them to their own pots but have no clue when the best time to do so would be or the best way. Someone told me to use B6 or B12 or B-something to prevent shock. I'm terrified to mess with my "watchful ignore" that seems to be working OK. Any advice/suggestions?

Flyboy, I was told by several people who laughed at me trying to take my Cali avocado with me that it would take several years to fruit, if ever and that I had to have two plants for fruit. I also have about 10 orange plants planted at the same time that haven't grown more than 6-8 inches. Think I need to transplant those too.
Kristen

DevilDogs~

It's a bewilderment. I know that avocados need pollenation -- so I am starting two. In similar cases I have used a q-tip -- such as for a couple of Asian pears I grew. But you must admit that the plants are beautiful, anyhow.

Mine came from a lady who brought her seeds over from Haiti, with her. She claims that it took five years for them to fruit. It seems that if you graft them it's quicker.

As for re-potting. Water the plant well, tip it over, and knock it out. If the roots are sqeezing against the pot, and are circling, it's time. When I do this I cut a few of the smaller circling roots so that they start reaching out. into the new medium.

Good luck

: )

Flyboy,
Thanks for the re-potting info. I only have jiffy mix in the house right now so will have to go get some potting soil. Oh yeah, and some pots too I guess :-)
Fingers crossed that they will be happy.
Also thought of one other thing. I had these always in the shade, never in sun. I remember being told that the fruit falls under the tree and takes root in the mulch of dead leaves in the shade of the tree. I know the one I have by itself in a pot has been "sunburned" several times and it looks no where as healthy or as large as the group of 5. Maybe if you put your's in the shade they may be happier?
Kristen

DevilDogs~

Yours does have great foliage. But, I think, they only fruit in full sun.

At least we are doing the right thing if you believe about the freeze they've had in Cali. Mine are shivering right now in our 55 degree weather. Where is that Global Warming they've been threatening us with?

Be well

Brad

:)

35 degrees here right now :-( Course that's 9pm and it did get up to 60 today but with the 40 mph winds we had, I wouldn't put a weed outside.
If they only fruit in the sun then I'm in trouble because mine won't tolerate the sun. Did I do that to them? I've only tried with the loner and every time I put it out, the leaves get burned to the point they crumple up and fall off. Course that one has always been in the house. My 5-pack was started outside and only came inside once we got here and the weather turned cold. My loner plant is not as strong as the 5-pack and as you can see, no leaves below the new growth on the top because I'm the idiot who never learns and keep getting this one sunburnt so they all fall off. I only have this one staked because I didn't trust it not getting damaged during the trip across country and just haven't taken the stake off yet. It is strong enough to survive without the stake. Anyway, think maybe I have to harden them off to the sun? Maybe that's it. Start them off in the shade and then when they are large enough and strong enough, slowly expose them to the sun for fruiting?
Hitting the web to research...will let you know if I find anything!
Kristen

DevilDogs~

Thanks.

Please keep me posted. And, good luck

Brad

I found some information about growing avocados from seed:
http://www.crfg.org/tidbits/AvocadoFromSeed.html
These 2 links have extensive information about growing avocados in the home garden. The Florida website includes common diseases:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/homefruit/avocado/avocado2.html
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/MG213

This last one includes an extensive list of varieties, what it takes to pollinate the flowers and even a little on grafting avocados.
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/avocado_ars.html

This message was edited Feb 19, 2007 4:10 PM

bettydee~

Thank you. Now you've set out enough homework to last awhile.

: )

How come?

It's a couple of months later, and I thought I'd revive this thread.

The two seeds have thrived. Here they are. The tall one (28 inches above ground) was the one I planted a week or so after the shorter one (18 inches).

But it was the shorter one that I snipped when the stem was eight inches tall.

:)

This message was edited Apr 30, 2007 1:15 PM

But, now look at the shorter one. WOW!

It already has three new branches (count 'em) and a fourth one starting to creep out. So I'll have at least five branches. Where will it stop?

The leaves are smaller -- but there are so many more.

So -- where is the expert? What happened? And WHY?

Be well

: )

I know it's a done deal, but why did you snip the top off? If you want a tree, you need to let the leader grow. Let it grow past the point at which you want it to branch. Prune it down to that height in late winter. Pruning stimulates the growth of dormant buds found on the little trunk. This is what you have done by pruning at 8". The leaves are small because the seedling doesn't have enough energy to support larger leaves. You'll find that pruning may also stimulate the growth of branches up and down the little trunk. It's OK to leaves them. The extra leaves will help the little tree store more energy. Cut the extra branches off when the trunk diameter reaches one inch.

Unless you want an avocado bush, pick the strongest branch as the new leader and cut the rest off.

I used the following clip from the Internet:

The wide portion of the avocado seed is the bottom. Plant bottom down and pointy side up. Your shoots will come from the top, pointy side. Your roots will grow from the flat, bottom side. After a couple of weeks, you will notice a stem emerging from the top. When the stem is six to seven inches long, cut it back to about three inches. Once your root system is 2-3 inches long and the stem has leafed out again, plant it in a rich humus soil, leaving the seed half exposed or about an inch above the soil surface. If you plant it in a pot, it should be at least a 10-1/2" diameter pot. Keep the soil moist over the coming weeks (not wet!) If your seed hasn’t sprouted by two months, get a new one. (This is the reason wise gardeners always plant more than one seed at a time!)

http://vegetablegardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/plant_avocado_from_seed

But I didn't cut the second one back. I plan to plant them in the same (big) hole in the ground.

Be well

: )

I was doing so much better with my "watchful ignored". I transplanted my 5 that were in one pot into their own pots and they survived. Ok, I could breath again. Then something dared to start eating them. I never saw one bug on them but lots of eaten leaves, from the outside of the leaf in towards the center. Applied spray individually to each leaf by hand, top and bottom, and then to stem. Made sure I covered every single part of all 5 plants. Whatever it was didn't care. Tried the Bayer systemic stuff on only one plant since it says not to use on potted plants. No change, bug still eating. Bought a different type of spray, this one some organic seaweed based kind and the stupid stuff fried every single leaf on my poor plants! sigh. So now I have these very sad looking plants that thankfully have new growth coming off the top and very few brown, crispy leaves left on them. Strange thing is they are on my deck with all my seedlings for my garden and all my other plants I put outside and nothing else has been touched by unknown bug. I guess the only thing that would have broken my heart more is if they had died.

Must have been some bug that loves guacamole

: )

I hope it chokes on it!

They are looking much better today. I have new leaf buds coming out where all the old leaves were that I took off plus the new growth at the top.

Congratulations.

It survived!!

: )

just found bugs...on the new growth and buried deep, sigh. they are white and look almost like little centipedes and a little powdery and slightly oval shaped...gonna have to figure out what they are so I can murder them all.

Try ULTRAFINE or NEEM oils.

: )

looked it up and it looks like a mealybug. says to use neem oil for it so I'll get some tomorrow. Thanks!

Good luck

Mine are still growing.

: )

And here's a closeup of the spreading one.

: )

The seeds weathered the summer -- and this is the one I cut back when it was little.

(That's a mop-pole holding it up.)

: )

And this is the one I didn't top off when it was young.

I finally did top it off last month in order to get it to branch out.

: )

You're making me sad, flyboy! My fondest memories were of our two avocado trees in the back yard of the house I grew up in (SoCal). One was smaller grew rather upright, and had nice looking fruits with smooth skin but not that many of them. The other Hass tree was probably planted when the house was built in the 40's, was HUGE and spreading and my brother and I even had a tree house up in it. I don't know why variety it was, but the fruits were bumpy and ugly...but had tons of them and they tasted GREAT!
Sadly, both trees were lost during freezes in the 90's.

This message was edited Dec 12, 2007 2:31 PM

This message was edited Dec 12, 2007 2:34 PM

Bynd~

So sad.

I am pretty ancient, and I don't really think that I'll get to taste the fruit from these trees.

But the seeds came from trees that were originally brought to the USA from Barbados (I think) --- and the fruits that bore them were humongous and shiny

But, it just seems nice to have them growing in my yard.

Be well

: )

I still have all but one of mine. I've lost almost all the leaves on them several times and they come back and just look beautiful again to start to die again. I finally found a master gardener at a HD not far from here who was able to ID it as a avocado fungus that specifically requires basic copper sulfate. Ever look for a fungicide with copper sulfate in December? Found some on line but costs twice as much to ship as the product costs or have to buy in bulk for hundreds of dollars. I've been managing by letting them get dry enough to start to wilt before I water them then just give them enough water to stop wilting and that has seemed to help a little. Course we just had 4 or 5 days of 80 degree weather so I put everything back outside for fresh air and to spray down to get rid of some spider mites that found their way into my sun room and realized today that they got sun burned. In Dec. Who'd have thunk that one? Sigh. Oh well, I still have new growth coming in all up and down the stems so if nothing else, I'll know for sure that there aren't any spider mites on my avocados. ;-/

I guess that it must be too cold to put them outside in SC.

I know about that sunburn. When I unpotted them in October and put them in the sun -- bam -- some of their leaves started to curl up.

I started this thread because California's avocados were decimated.

Be well

: )

DevilDogs, I can probably help you with your fungicide. I have copper sulfate (I'm a chemist) and if we can determine the right percentage we could spike some Captan with it. How much do you need?

Hey BB, Thanks! That's awesome! Right now, I have my parent's and in-laws looking for me as they are both coming for Christmas or right after. I'm not holding out much luck that my mom will find it as she's in Mich, but she has an awesome nursery by her that just may have some. My in-laws are in Fl so I think they may have more luck finding it there for me. I'm hoping at least. If they both come up empty handed, I'll dmail you if that's ok. I'll have to figure out how much I need as I was hoping by buying a product would tell me how much, how often, etc. :-)

Most application indications that I can find are in lbs. per acre (not for a small scale). I did find a reference to .16% in fungicide, and I could mix it at that proportions.

While the results would be great for fungus, I do know copper sulfate can cause an exacerbation of your spider mite population. That should be a consideration.

My mom found some! :-) Now I just can't wait till she gets here!

spider mites like copper? uggghhh! Luckily, I THINK they are gone. Stinkin inch worms tho have pretty much decimated my bougainvillea.